Enjoy Being Catholic!

If any of you are Facebooker's ....check out "Catholic Study Fellowship" and LIKE it if youhaven't already.  What a wonderful & uplifting group of people with so much information.  They posted THIS today & I thought I'd share. THANK YOU "Catholic Study Fellowship" for helping to spread the TRUTH!

 

 

Spanning 2000 years of Apostolic Tradion, we are the Catholic Church!
2 Thess 2:15 "So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter."

Other quotes by Saint Athanasius:

... "Thus it is that sinners, and all those who are aliens from the Catholic Church, heretics, and schismatics, since they are excluded from glorifying (God) with the saints, cannot properly even continue observers of the feast."
Festal Letters VII, 335 A.D.

"Who then is so negligent, or who so disobedient to the divine voice, as not to leave everything, and run to the general and common assembly of the feast? which is not in one place only, for not one place alone keeps the feast; but 'into all the earth their song has gone forth, and to the ends of the world their words.' And the sacrifice is not offered in one place, but 'in every nation, incense and a pure sacrifice is offered unto God'. So when in like manner from all in every place, praise and prayer shall ascend to the gracious and good Father, when the whole Catholic Church which is in every place, with gladness and rejoicing, celebrates together the same worship to God, when all men in common send up a song of praise and say, Amen."
Festal Letters XI,11, 339 A.D.

"For the faith which the Council confessed in writings is the faith of the Catholic Church."
Letter on the Council of Nicaea, 27, 350 A.D.

"Let us note that the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave, was preached by the Apostles, and was preserved by the Fathers. On this was the Church founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is nor any longer ought to be called a Christian."
St. Athanasius, Letter to Serapion of Thmuis, 359 A.D..

"Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John."
Festal Letters XXXIX, 5, 367 A.D.

WE ARE CATHOLIC, THE ORIGINAL!!!

How I LoveOur Holy Father

Way to go B16!! 

CatholicCulture.org reporting the Pope's newest appointment to Archbishop of San Fran!

Keep turning up the heat!

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15061

Fatima & Mother Mary's Warning

Wow...talk about scaring the HELL outta someone...check out this video found on You Tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2VOoOES6-8&feature=share

WOO HOO! Love the Holy Spirit at work

I think the most inspirational and exciting of all stories to listen to are conversion stories.  Here is one that I think you'll enjoy.  Thank you Catholic News Agency for bringing us this story!

Enjoy!

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/former-atheist-poet-reveals-details-of-her-catholic-conversion/ 

The Devil

Over the course of the past year, I have come to have a far deeper understanding of Satan and his works.  This topic was always one shied away from in all the Catholic schools I attended. It never discussed.  Like Fr. Barron here says, Satan was not talked about in the same manner as we discussed God.  But I think that is an error that we don't. 

Listen to Fr. Barron here...as always, spot on in my humble opinion

http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr-Barron-comments-on-The-Devil.aspx

WOW! I wish I had a benefactor..I want to go!

Voris is attending an amazing Catholic Conference in Italy I would so love to attend this
check it out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P0fUi7dVQzo#!

Frightening Reality

This is a drum I've been beating for a long time.  I think Voris puts it clearly here & it always shakes me to the bone to hear these statistics....please pass this along

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0JRU4m8RGRM#!

Satan and the Bible

Another great "Church Militant"...enjoy friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0bxdapuJ6Q&feature=youtu.be

Powerful Stuff..

As only Michael Voris can...ring the bell of truth for our sinful ears
I need to catch up on my "Church Militant" episodes but this I HAD TO share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJP0NRTWgEg&feature=player_embedded

God Smacked....

So, I left you, all of a few days ago, in deep despair over the news of my son. His cancer was back, in the brain and it was terminal. Since that post, my husband and I had to share some of the most difficult moments anyone has to face. We began planning our precious boy’s funeral. We were waiting for our initial meeting with HOSPICE and I began writing his eulogy.
After the initial shock of this horrendous news, my family ran away for a few days down to the Jersey shore. We had not been away together for 15 months due to the cancer treatment schedule my son had to endure and this place was where we always found our respite. This was our happy place. But even this place did not hold enough magic to dissipate the fog of despair that we brought with us. We knew, that upon our return, our boy would under go a PET scan to find out where this insidious disease had spread to. This was to help the doctors figure out how best to alleviate any pain that would arise in the different parts of his body.
I had taken to saying a daily rosary early on in my son's illness, but I must admit, over the last few months, I had slacked. I had not been AS diligent as I once was. My schedule had dramatically changed and with that, I allowed myself to get lazy about my prayer life. It was my excuse of course. Well, as one could imagine, as soon as I heard the newest information about my son, it all changed. I felt horribly guilty as if I betrayed my friends, Mary, the saints & of course God by now returning to them, in such a horrible time of need & begging for my child’s life. I pleaded for forgiveness, guidance, discernment and of course, a miracle of healing.
The burden of misery was so heavy. As each day passed, I began to wrap my head around the concept that soon, I would not have my little boy around us for much longer. Somehow, I began to feel more and more at peace knowing that he was going straight to Heaven. Now it would be my sole mission to work at getting me and my family members there so we could be together again.
I had come to a place where I was talking openly with my children about our human passing and our goal at reaching Heaven and how it was imperative that it always remain our main focus in life. I was thinking that I should use every moment of this human pain to try and do something good with it...like help teach my other child that this WHOLE journey of life comes down to this moment. The moment of our death & it is what we do on Earth that is our preparation for it. My six year old took to talking about what he was going to do when he reached Heaven pretty regularly and each time he discussed it I thought my knees would give out from under me.  I was only standing by the grace of God. 
The hospital staff & social workers rushed to fulfill my son’s “Make a Wish” dream trip to Disney World.  It was originally planned for late August, thinking he’d be well past chemo treatments and hopefully feeling great so we could use the week as a long awaited celebration for him.  Now, they planned it in 3 days & we were due to leave by the end of the week. With fake smiles, it would be our “last hurrah” as a family of four.  The dread was overwhelming. Each day seemed like a year. 
My parish community was, as always, just tremendous.  There was a prayer service held every other night it seemed, to say the rosary for a complete healing of our boy.  I was actually able to attend a few of them and the sorrow these people felt for our family, the outpouring of kindness and generosity, it truly was comforting and nothing short of amazing.  It made me so happy to be Catholic and part of such a phenomenal community. 
Once again, I found myself begging people for their prayers.  If I saw a Nun in habit, I would walk up to them,hand them my son’s name on a scrap of paper and ask for prayers.  I e-mailed and Facebooked my son's story into gaining a million prayers in his name, I think.  Heck, you know …I reached out to all of YOU as well.
So, we returned home from our quick jaunt to the shore last Sunday.  Monday, at 8AM my son was due in for his PET scan.  If you are not familiar with all of the medical jargon, God bless you, I wish you never have to learn but…a PET scans only job is to identify cancer cells in the body.  It cannot detect cancer in the bone or blood but it will light up ANY areas in the body cavity that have cancer. I had asked someone at the hospital if this test was one my son had to fast for.  It is hard asking a 6 year old not to even drink a glass of water until the test is done although sadly my little guy knows this drill all too well.  They told me “no” so this was as slight relief.  
We keep candy around our house now at all times, it is PURELY for bribing purposes.  It is the easiest AND ONLY method of getting him to take any of his oral medicines. So I threw a 2lb bag of peanut M&M’s into my bag the morning of the test KNOWING I was going to need to bribe him at some point in time during that day.  We arrived for our test and they gave me a contrast drink for my boy to consume.  This is a NASTY experience for an ADULT to endure, let alone a six year old.  SO as he cried, I begged, cajoled and bribed him to drink this substance with said M&M’s.  After a few gulps, and an hour of debate he finally put his foot down and absolutely REFUSED to drink this horrible concoction. I sheepishly went back to the nuclear medicine folks & told them our predicament.  Much to my chagrin, they said it was fine, that they would do the scan without it??!!  If I had KNOWN, my poor little guy wouldn’t have gone through such drama and well….sigh…what was done, was done. We got to the next stage of his testing when the technician asked “So, Nothing to eat or drink today, RIGHT?” I had to explain that had eaten and it was about 20 M&M’s while I was bribing him to consume the nasty drink that he didn’t have to take in the first place…UGG! We were sent home only to reschedule our appointment for two days later, sure enough, this WAS a test that needed to  be fasted for. What a comedy of errors!
That morning, on the way to the hospital, I had dropped my daughter at a dear friend’s house. She handed me a precious item of hers.  It was a relic of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  Oddly enough, this friend’s own daughter, at the age of 3 AND 5, beat a rare childhood cancer TWICE! She explained that the relic was truly miraculous and had helped many people in her life. Now she was loaning it to my boy, we are truly blessed. When I finally made it back to this friend’s home to pick up my daughter and explained my screw up at the hospital, she laughed and said “No worries, it gives us one more day to pray for that miracle." 
So Monday was my screw up, Tuesday there was yet another prayer service to say the rosary for a healing which I was glad I was able to attend.  Afterwards, people were approaching, asking all kinds of questions and I explained “I keep praying for a healing miracle BUT I’d even take just a new treatment regime that could give us a SHOT.”  when a friend approached and said “Are you KIDDING? What we are praying for here tonight is a complete healing!  We are praying for that PET scan tomorrow to come back clean!” and I thought to myself, "Yes…why not?  Why can’t my son be like the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak?” I have that faith in Him!  My son has that faith in Him! My son can absolutely be healed.  Do you all remember just a few entries ago, before I even KNEW about my son’s newest condition and how I said I began to CRY at Mass when hearing that Gospel story??  I all of a sudden got a HUGE sense of renewed strength. I started thinking about how Satan was using my weakness, my despair and how he was so badly wanting me & my family to break and turn from God at this moment.  He was preying on our human frailties and I felt like I was no longer in a medical fight. This was spiritual warfare now.  Science no longer could help my boy OR my family.  This now was a battle of who was going to get my family’s souls.  My son, his battle was won…but I could not foresee my daughter & husband’s path in life.  Would this experience mentally scar my daughter?  Would she grow angry and leave her faith one day?  Would my husband grow bitter with the world, become despondent and lose HIS faith?  These were the things that plagued me.  I went home that night and spoke to God, begging him to let this small child who brought so much light to so many be a beacon, be a sign, to all who meet him or hear about him. May he be a person to draw people closer to the Lord because of his story. Let my family be faithful servants and a witness to your goodness and use us as vehicles to bring people back to the one, true, faith in this time when the world so badly needs conversion. 
Right before my son’s PET scan the next morning, in the hospital, I Consecrated him to Mother Mary and said one final rosary beside him. I stood over him while I desperately spoke to God again and said “Dear God, if it is your will to take my son, it will happen no matter what happens in this test today.  Please just give my family the strength to survive and remain in your light.” My heart was at peace.  I no longer felt the dread and the threat of chaos that had consumed my mind as of late.  My focus was crystal clear.  This test would tell how severe my son’s cancer was and where in the body it was located.  After the test, we were to head over to the children’s oncology clinic to meet with my boy’s Oncology team & MAYBE get some preliminary results back on this PET.  So we did just that. We decided to stick around for a little bit to get whatever news we could. 
The top doctor came into the room, sat down and said “Liz, tell me about your son’s head trauma.” My mind raced…”What?  What are you suggesting doctor?” I stammered.  He said "You mentioned to us when we FIRST heard this news that your son hit his head weeks ago…tell us that story again because the PET scan is showing NO CANCER, anywhere in his body.  The Spinal tap results are back from the lab & they are showing NO CANCER cells in the spinal fluid BUT they are showing  large amounts of OLD blood…when did he hit his head again?  We think what showed up on the MRI is evidence of head trauma.”  
We are in Disney as I write this to you CELEBRATING LIFE...what say you?       

Terrible Blow....

Well, as I have written in many blog enteries before, my 6 year old son experienced, in my humble opinion, a miracle of healing last year in his fight against cancer.  Since April 2011, I have been in complete awe of events that have unfolded and "signs" I have experienced which I have perceived as assistance to lead me through my sons ordeal. 
It was week 51 of a 52 week treatment schedule this past week. We were excited and waiting to re-enter life as a healthy family with a boy who literally TROUNCED one of the worst childhood cancers known to man (rhabdomyosarcoma) when last week he started waking each day with migranes and vomiting.  By the second day of headaches the doctors wanted to give him a CT scan of the brain to see what was going on. Sure enough...since April 2012 (his most recent set of cancer free scans) it had returned to coat his brain. Tuesday we were told it is inoperable & incurable. We are at the stage of just making him comfortable until his passing.

So many emotions, so much pain and grief, the agony is beyond words. I wish it on no man.

So where is God in all of this?  Does this mean that all of those miraculous "signs" were mere figments of my imagination?  Am I truly just a warped, zealot, Jesus freak who saw signs as a coping mechanism? As I look back at all of the AMAZING events that have taken place over the course of the past 14 months I can honestly say NO!  My son not only beat stage 4 cancer (with bone marrow 100% diseased, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! And tumors on his bones etc.) but he did it with virtually no side effects.  He was taking NINE different chemo drugs and had to endure 40 radiation treatments in six differnet areas of his body...he woke everyday with a smile & his job to do & he did it without question and making us laugh all along the way. He never got sick to his stomach (until just last week.)  He did it all with what I would consider MINIMAL issues compared to what I have witness other families having to endure.  He did experience fevers when his blood counts dropped too low but in my opinion, these were more annoyances than anything of concern or worry. It would have not been humanly possible for him to endure the drugs he was taking without SOME type of reaction & the low grade fever was his Achilles heel. They were all in awe over him & how quickly & seemingly EASILY he rid his body of this horrendous disease. 
My confidence (as you all witnessed) was so high that this kid was being asked to share his story of faith & struggle with the world.  I was praying that he may one day consider the priesthood possibly BECAUSE of these events. 
But then this. This CRUSHING and DEVASTATING news on the very last week of TREATMENT.  This was a cruel & sick joke for sure.
My mind has gone to Abraham & Job so many times throughout this experience and this week in particular becasue in my heart of hearts I know this is no other work than that of Satan. God does not create sickness...God creates only that which is good.  Sickness and death was born out of sin, it is polar OPPOSITE of God. 
In Job we recall that Satan kind of tried to trump God, right?   If we recall...he said something like "Give me one of your most faithful and I will show you how quickly they will abandon You" so God agreed & gave him Job the righteous man who lived a charmed life with wealth and a large family and who always praised the Lord.  Satan killed all of his children, diseased his body, made him lose his wealth and was tossed to the outskirts of town due to his disease and was abandon.  All the while his "best Friends" tried to get him to lose his faith in the Lord by blaming God for all of his woes.  Time after time he continued to defend his faith. Finally God relieved him of his pain and anguish and restored Job to his respectable life, he had more children and he gained his wealth back and lived for the rest of his days favored by God. 
I have heard it  now many times "This sort of thing should never have to happen to a child!" and to see my son even twinge in any pain wrenches my heart in two. I do not understand why the Church has moved away from speaking about the evils of Satan on a regular basis, I know how scary it is but being witness to his work, so up close and personal and SEEING how he attempting to ruin my family by ruining our faith in the Lord by ravaging what is so dear to us on this earth is what is needed to be shared so we know how to weather these storms. 
God gave my family all of last year with a sick boy who never really acted sick. We got to intimately enjoy him in a way we would have never otherwise.  It is why my husband was out of work so he could spend that time too.  We grew as a family that the otherwise busy, family life would have never allowed us to do.  I was taking all of our good blessings and Divine "signs" to mean we were gifted with the miracle of HEALING so we could go on to share God's witness as a family but now I see, all of those gifts He bestowed on us was 14 months of a gifted and happy boy that we got share before he was going to need to leave us.
We are prepared for the worst but would take a healing miracle if God grants us one. I beg all of you to pray the rosary for my son and family. Lets give Satan something really to boil about...we know he HATES our devotion to Mary hence we see him at work through the so very many who hate Catholics because of this admiration and love we have for her.
Over this past week I thought about how it is a Mother's main job to work as hard as she can to make sure her children reach Heaven. Well, given my son's age and just what a remarkable, holy soul he is he will go straight to Heaven without ANY assistance from me, so my heart can rest easy in knowing that one of my children will have already made it there to Mother Mary arms.
Good people, I have written to you all about death before.  We are blessed to be Catholic! It is not an end for my boy...it is a beginning.  My husband, daughter & I just have to figure out how to manage our next handful of decades until we see him again.  It is now my main focus to do EVERYTHING I can to make sure my soul is worthy enough to enter the gates of Heaven to be beside my boy again FOREVER. My boy will assist us through it, as he has assisted us through his illness from the beginning. My husband is having a very difficult time accepting that this world will have missed our boys potential...but I argue, in Heaven he will so far surpass any earthly potential God gifted him that we cannot even fathom it.
Pray for us dear people.  Pray for all who are in Purgatory.  And pray for the poor souls who do not believe in God and their conversions. Rejoice in the fact that we are Catholic because our bodies are mere vessels for short periods of time before we have a chance to be in God's presence.
Get right with God good people. Go to Confession, cleanse your souls be ready.
God love you.

AMAZING Story

My dear friend Tricia sent me this story because of how it reminded her of my son's story of healing.  When my son was first diagnosed I felt an overwhelming urge to ask ANYONE and EVERYONE I met on the street to say the rosary for my son and if they would say it as often as possible.  I got word that a small Catholic school in CT started saying it daily for the month of June in 2011. My own children's school here in NJ also took to saying it daily for him.  I was contacted by so many people telling me their stories of how by saying the rosary for my son it changed their lives. Whole families took to saying it together...I was told that Masses were being said for him all over the US and prayer groups that reached all over the world were praying for my son...people who had left the Church returned to it because of my son's story.  Wanna talk about a gift that keeps on giving? This is why we are called to evangelize!  My heart rejoices to know that by me asking for help for my son, not only assisted in saving my son's life BUT helped bring people closer to God.  ENJOY this remarkable story and what a great story to come across the week the Gospel was of when Jesus brought the 12 year old to life AND right when Archbishop Sheen was venerated!
Thank you Ignitum Today for sharing this story http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2011/09/16/61-minutes/

Just Found This

From the Intergrated Catholic, advising us on what we should do this politcal season

http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2012/07/deacon-bickerstaff-six-important-things-catholics-must-do-this-political-season/

FEAR

So at mass this week we heard the great Gospel of when the ill woman touched Christ's cloak and was healed and then Jesus went on to bring a 12 year old girl back to life.  
As I stood listening to this PHENOMINAL story, my eyes watered up & I found myself holding back from crying. At that moment I really couldn’t explain WHY this was happening but it soon made sense.  This Gospel was just more proof for me that our awesome God will intervene personally for us and all we need is faith. 
My life has been so gifted by God giving me my son, his grave illness and miraculous recovery. To witness such events first hand has been quite overwhelming.  I try hard to share these things because I know these gifts were not meant for just me. God wants me to write them down. He wants me to help others find this amazing place of peace, calm, stability and happiness. So, I think a lot about how best to express myself.  The complexity is so far more than just explaining remarkable events as they unfold because I feel I can do that fairly easily…it is what occurs as a RESULT of being witness to such things that are life altering and I keep trying to put into words all that transpires so I might be able to help others to this wonderful place.
So during my parish priest’s homily yesterday he focused of the fact that we humans have a lot of fears. The most common of which is the fear of death. And I liked what he said about it, he said ‘God did not create fear…if we refer back to the creation story…all God made was good.  Satan created fear to prey on the weakness of humans’ and I couldn’t agree with him more.  We are so lucky to be Catholic but I think many of us FORGET what we are suppose to believe and have FAITH in.  We believe that our physical death is merely a process that needs to take place so we can move onto our next and greater chapter.  Why are we so fearful of it?  We are fearful because Satan tells us to be so. He does this by making the unknown seem scary…our mind equates the unknown to darkness, loneliness, danger…remember the ONLY reason there even IS physical death is because of the sin of humans to begin with, but God never told us any of these frightening things about human death. Why don’t we have faith in God on this matter yet feed into Satan allowing his fear to take over?  God told us that if we follow Him and have TRUE faith in Him there is NOTHING to be frightened of in death.  Maybe we fear the possibility of hell?  If that is the case...we can rectify that any time we choose through Confession and changing of ones behavior.  None of us want to face any pain but to spend one moment of life worrying about a potential painful death is just wasted time.  A HUGE lesson I had to learn quickly when my son got sick is that time is too short to waste one second on “what-ifs.”  There were real time concerns to concentrate on and to spend a moment on worrying about “what if my son needs another operation, what if he gets left back in school, and the worst of them what if my son’s cancer comes back…” was/is fruitless and a waste.  I have learned that I cannot waste any time or energy on POTENTIAL bad scenarios. Real ones need all my attention and efforts.  I think of all the worries I had about my kids PRE-stage 4 cancer hitting one of them & I have to laugh at how ridiculous they seem.  I'd be lying to say that there aren't moments of weakness I experience but I don’t allow them to stir up debilitating fears because that is EXACTLY what fears main objective is…to stop us from proceeding. I recall all the things I did not attempt in life because of fear of my inadequacies. HA!  I was so silly and foolish looking back now. I think about all the limitations I put on myself, all the missed opportunities and dreams that went untouched. Fears like that are all gone now thank God. Fear of failure is so far down on the list of concerns...I view everything with the mindframe of "what is the worst that can happen..." I tell dear friends that I am no longer the person to come to if they need someone commiserate with because the only advice I’m gonna give them is “Ah…no worries, this too shall pass.” Because...it WILL so why spend time stressing over it? 
When you are literally holding the hand of your own child who is very close to death and you have come to accept that death for this child is a very real probability and you have allowed God into this dark and threatening place with you…things happen.  If you ask Him, He will gift you with inspired thoughts. Thoughts that bring stability to your overwrought mind that; “All will be well if you give over all suffering Him.” You think to yourself…well OK…how does one actually DO this?  Well, I can recall the day I sat beside my son, who was doped with morphine as I held his little hand and my heart and mind cried out to God and said “This is too much for me God.  No human can withstand this…please, please take this pain & worry away from me. I have to be strong for my 5 year old…I cannot let him fight this battle alone, please give me the strength and show me the path I must take to navigate us through this.  Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only child because You asked it of him…if You ask this of me, please just give me the strength to live through it myself and the wherewithal to keep the rest of my family intact."  And…He did. When I offered all of this up in this manner was when shortly afterwards I received the phone call I have written about a few times now from my old friend telling me about my son's doctors.  That was when I knew…I KNEW God was communicating with me and he was answering me. He told me LOUDLY that he will help me if I have complete faith.  From that moment on, I had renewed strength.  I had a laser focused path I was to take and how I was going to take it. My job was carved out for me for my next 15 months and that was to be 100% mother to my 2 kids and the best and patient partner to my husband as we travelled this road.  ALL of my fears were squelched because the plan was shared with me.  I now had the bluepraint for success.  God took my hand & led me so I could take my child's hand and lead him.  I felt so confident that God made me privy to our immidiate plan that I was actually happy.  Everyday I was happy.  Because I knew God was holding me up.  It seemed evident that every time I felt myself losing strength…God would send a little sign to remind me, something that would shake me to say “Chin up girl…you must keep going for your family…I am here, see me?”  When I allow myself to sit and think back over this incredible experience I was fortunate enough to have over the past 15 months, I sometimes just fall to my knees to thank God for all of His awesome blessings.  My son started an INCREDIBLE turn around immediately at the onset of his chemo protocol.  With a 10% chance of living he was deemed in complete remission before he had even reached his half way point in treatments.  Something his doctors had never seen before.
Sadly, I have witnessed young children dying over this past year.  Something I wish on no man BUT as sad as I am for the families who experience this…my heart leaps knowing this child of God has returned to Him and this is where we should all long to be.  We Catholics know (or should know) that we should rejoice for the soul that gets to be in God’s presence.  I’ve said it before and that is the only fear I have of passing myself is leaving my 2 little ones before they are old enough to understand that it won’t take very long before we are all together again in perfectness …that is if Mommy does her part & is prepared to meet God.  This experience has taught me so many lessons. And my son will probably never know how much of a better person he has made me but…the biggest lesson of all was how UNREADY my soul was a year ago to meet God and how hard I must try for the rest of my life to prepare myself for that day.  Now, so little is important to me other than this goal.  No fears, no angers, no jealousy’s, no material wants or needs….just unbridled happiness for happiness sake is what this experience and brush with God has done for me.  Now I see life as a series of happy events in which I attempt to make pleasing to God.  I see God in so many places that I hadn’t since I was a child. The busyness of life shielded my eyes from seeing Him. When I take notice of God’s intervention in something simple, it at times conjures memories from childhood when I had such an intimate, uncomplicated relationship with God. It was when I knew God was communicating to me and leading me but with maturity and a muddled society came questions.  That was when I dropped the “silly” notions of a God who personally entered my life and I THANK GOD he has showed me the error of my ways and has reverted me back to the truth.   So I lead my life with confidence now.  No fear of life, death or circumstances because I have seen God, first hand at work at the darkest moments of it and how He responds when we have complete faith.  He removes all fear for us and absolutely guides us through it all.  Happiness comes with the stability and strength that is gifted and fear has no place left here.  If I feel fear creeping into the corners of my mind, I just pray and it leaves me.
Each day, I learn more about my faith and the more amazed I am how everything makes so much sense now.  How we have always been gifted with the TRUTH and how so many of us choose not to see it. When I read the Bible now, I understand it more than I ever have and I thank God for that as well.
I saw this collection today and it is not just something I read…it is something I live now.  I pray that everyone reading this can feel such calm by embracing these words and putting them into practice in their own lives. 

F.E.A.R.= False Evidence Appearing Real.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7-10

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline” 2 Timothy 1:7 

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and it shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love.” 1 John 4:18 

 us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 1 John 4:18

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3

God bless good people.